Michael Collins combines the roles of clarinet soloist and\nconductor as he leads the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in three works\nthat chart the journey of the clarinet from Mozart’s late\neighteenth-century Europe, via Aaron Copland’s 1940s America, to\ntoday’s classical scene with a piece written, for Michael Collins,\nin 2007 by the Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

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Mozart composed his Clarinet Concerto, just weeks before his\ndeath in 1791, for Anton Stadler, the first great clarinet\nvirtuoso. Stadler performed the work on what today is known as the\nbasset clarinet, which features additional low notes without\ncompromising the higher register. Unfortunately, Mozart’s\nmanuscript score has been lost. In recent years, however, editors\nand performers have made several attempts to determine Mozart’s\noriginal intentions, and the version recorded here represents one\nsuch reconstruction. The concerto has a quality of serene and\nresigned beauty, recognisable from Die Zauberflöte, and from\nMozart’s Requiem.

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Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto was commissioned in 1947 by\nBenny Goodman, the most famous band leader of the swing era, who\nhas been credited with having made jazz ‘respectable’. Goodman also\nhad a second career as a classical clarinettist. He was eager to\nenrich the repertoire by inviting major composers to write for him,\nand Copland was happy to take on the challenge.

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Elena Kats-Chernin is one of Australia’s leading composers. Her\nOrnamental Air was written in 2007 in response to a commission from\na group of orchestras including the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, with\nMichael Collins as the intended soloist. The score is modelled\nclosely on the Clarinet Concerto by Mozart. Not only are the\norchestral forces identical – two flutes, two bassoons, two horns,\nand strings – but the solo instrument is the basset clarinet, for\nwhich Mozart also wrote his concerto. Kats-Chernin’s writing here\ntakes full advantage of the exceptionally wide range of the\ninstrument, as well as its potential for both virtuosity and\nlyricism.

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